Scrum is not about project management

June 07, 2010

I often hear people talk about Scrum as a project management framework. I don’t like that idea. Scrum is for managing complexity to provoke change. I don’t like the notion of Agile Project Management either. Nor do I believe in the Agile Project Manager.

Our conventional approach is to solve problems. In fact we love problems and we take pride in devising complex solutions. We operate on a belief that we can make a real difference with more or better problem-solving. It’s only natural then, that we think of products in terms of projects (project resonate with problem to be solved) and that we see Scrum as another approach to manage projects (hopefully a better one). In my experience, product developments that use Scrum as a project management approach rather than a tool to ask powerful questions to spark off change, do not make a real difference. They only manage to project the past into the future.

Scrum is about the art of the possible. It is when we start thinking in terms of products, people and possibilities that real change is possible. To make a meaningful difference in our software development efforts we have to embrace uncertainty (and the anxiety that comes along) and tap into the possibilities it brings. We have to acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers, and that we’re going to explore how to best meet our goals and that of our users.